You may or may not be planning to see the third film in the series Sonic the Hedgehog franchise when it releases this Christmas, but whether your love of fierce CGI animals includes this latest cash-in for the Nintendo character or not, the presence of Jim Carrey should provide some distraction. Carrey plays the villainous Dr. for the third time. Robotnik and has made some amusingly frank comments in interviews about his decision to return to the role. He revealed that he returned to this film’s universe for two reasons: “First of all, I get to play a genius, which is a bit difficult” and “I bought a lot of stuff and I honestly need the money.”

Many actors have taken on similarly demeaning roles, particularly in the new flood of superhero and comic book content, and few have been so open about the financial reasons behind their decisions. Still, Carrey, now 62, is one of the more unusual actors in Hollywood. Since his breakthrough in 1994 Ace Ventura: Pet DetectiveHe initially had a Robin Williams-esque career in which he transitioned from purely comic roles as Ace Ventura and the goofy Lloyd Dumb and dumber to acclaimed dramatic roles in popular films such as The Truman Show, Eternal sunshine of the flawless mind and especially, man on the moon, in which Carrey didn’t so much embody the late comedian Andy Kaufman as disappear into his personality and soul on screen, which had both entertaining and disturbing effect.

As with Williams, audiences would have expected that Carrey would soon move into the role of elder statesman, and that Oscars and other awards would follow. Certainly, his fine, subtle work in Eternal sunshine deserved more recognition from the Academy than it received, and his astonishingly versatile performance as con man Steven Jay Russell in the black comedy I love you, Philip Morris remains a career highlight. As is the commercially unsuccessful but strangely fascinating one The cable type showed that Carrey’s unique brand of humor is most effective when the darkness is allowed to run wild. His performance as Russell – a closeted homosexual who becomes a serial prison escapee – was both hilarious and creepy, suggesting he was bringing something original to the screen.

But since then, Carrey’s career has gone downhill. His semi-autobiographical Showtime series Jokingly Having said that, you would be hard-pressed to find any particularly interesting or challenging work on his resume since then I love you Philip Morris, and Carrey was relatively open about his lack of interest in acting, preferring instead a career as a painter. He released a short documentary I needed color in 2017, leading some to question whether it was some kind of elaborate performance art parody, but apparently his interest in painting is deep-rooted and genuine.

Instead, he’s explored other, more esoteric territory when it comes to blurring the lines between Jim Carrey the actor and Jim Carrey the “real” person. The documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond delved into the extent of his preparations to play Kaufman, saying that if anything, the actor had gotten so far into the method that while Kaufman’s friends and family were happy to see the late comedian, those around Carrey were but were confused as to where he had disappeared to. And a semi-autobiographical novel from 2020, Memories and misinformation, which he co-wrote with Dana Vachon, played with ideas of self, celebrity and split personalities. It was met with positive, if slightly amused, reviews and seemed to suggest that Carrey was coming to terms with being one of the more unusual characters in Hollywood today.

His lucrative, if artistically unfulfilled, commitments Sonic the Hedgehog could therefore be viewed as a strange piece of metatextual art, just as Kaufman might have done had he lived. Alternatively, actors need to make a living, and an undemanding role in a special effects blockbuster gives him the freedom to pursue other, more interesting projects in the future or simply retire. Still, it’s hard not to feel like Carrey has retreated deep into an unchallenged comfort zone after showing the world how interesting he can be as an actor. Let’s hope something interesting enough comes along in the near future that he can break free from this.